Brewery Tour – Cold Garden Brewery

Hey Boozers how are you doing? Are you surviving the cold weather? How about the snow? Did you miss all of this when we didn’t get this last year? I know I didn’t! However, that’s enough of the weather talk let’s talk about a brewery tour I went to!

On Saturday, I went to Cold Garden to have a look around, to see how they have been getting set up and ready for a the next level of being a brewery, opening the tap room. They have come out with some beers that have been OUTSTANDING, and they have no signs of slowing down at all. If anything, they are picking up the pace in popularity and rightfully so.

Looking around in the brewery they are getting some final touches done. As they want to keep with the theme of their brewery name it seems they are on the right track! I got to see some of the designs they are putting in for it, what they have for flight holders, the flight glasses they are going to be using, and taps they have set up.

The brewery itself has a lot of space for growing, and gaining a lot of area for when, not going to say if, they expand. With family and friends helping out they seem to be on track to keeping their name in the craft beer world around Calgary and area. I have to say I LOVE the pool noodle idea that has seem to have stuck with them when they were in a bind to get a tap handle to a client. This little idea has grew into a staple that you can see around the city on tap handles and in the brewery!

Sitting down with Kris she let me sample some beers, even went as far as to suggest not having the first one I wanted as it may wreck my palate, for I was going to start with a sour porter.

What beers did I try? Well I had to start off with one of my go to beers that I enjoyed back in September was the Vanilla Cappuccino Porter. This beer has some great flavors in it still, and when it is fresh from the brewery, it is the best thing ever! It really can be classed as a morning beer, wakes you up and gets you ready for the day!

Next up I had the Cakeface, Ok do you sense a pattern here, no? Well the Cakeface has hints of Vanilla in it and at the end of it after you swallow gives you a full on vanilla cake flavor that just lingers I your mouth like you took a bite of a boozy cake! Something that you really must taste for yourself! Not overly sweet, and just the right amount of mixtures to give it a unique quality to the beer!

The last one I had was the Sour Patch Porter! This one was unique to say the least, the smell and taste were two different things. You get a bit of a burnt malt smell on the nose with a bit of a lemony back smell, when you drink it, you get more of the sour, with the porter style taking a backseat. So amazing and easy to drink, and this is coming from someone that isn’t a fan of sours!

I also took home the East Calgary Lager, and I did a review of it which you can find here!

Overall this was a great tour I loved every part of it, what they have planned is going to really make some big waves in the craft beer scene and it already has started for them. As well as being part of the scene and sharing their experiences with the community and other breweries and not afraid to take risks will give them the success they deserve! When this brewery fully opens their tap house I fully recommend going to see them, it is one of the fun ones that will be rocking Calgary and beyond!

Did you know that Outcast Brewing is contract brewing out of here too? No, well Cold Garden was nice enough to help Outcast out and give them some space to make their beer too. That right there proof we are in a great area where brewers help one another!

As well I hope Cold Garden does make the beer that Kris and I discussed as I want to be FIRST in line to review it!